Land patents from 1788 to the 1960s show information about people who obtained the title to their land directly from the government (rather than from another individual). This includes land obtained through military bounty land warrants, land grants, cash entry sales, credit entries, homesteads, mineral or mining, and timberland claims.

Several million federal land patent records are available online at the Bureau of Land Management – General Land Office Records (BLM-GLO) site. For a Land Patent Search, the minimum information needed is the State where the land is located and the name of the person receiving the land patent.

Contents

Value of Land Records

Land records were created by the government to prevent or help resolve ownership disputes. They can be used by genealogists to determine residence. If the land was later passed to relatives, you may be able to use wills or deeds showing the transfer as evidence of personal relationships. In some cases the patent application papers contain genealogical information.

Patents show the name of the patentee, date, legal description of the land, patent number, and the land office that issued the patent. This information can be used to obtain land patent application papers. It may also help you locate papers showing the subsequent disposal of the land.

Application papers for federal land patents may have detailed information about family members and previous residence as shown in dozens of papers including land application forms, citizenship applications, Family Bible pages, marriage or death certificates, newspaper clippings, and affidavits.

Value of the BLM-GLO Land Patent Search

The Land Patent Search is an index to millions of ancestors in federal land patents from 1788 to the 1960s at the National Archives. Start with this index to get the information needed to obtain the applications for land patents which may be a rich source of genealogical information about a family. The same Internet site also provides access to images of patents for the eastern federal land states.

Jurisdictions

Federal vs. State Land States.png

The thirteen original colonies and their five daughter states (Maine, Vermont, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee) are considered state land states. Texas and Hawaii have unique histories and are also state land states. The remaining thirty western states are federal land states. The online BLM-GLO Land Patent Search is primarily for goverment-to-individual land conveyances in federal land states west and south of the original thirteen colonies.

Land transfers from a state land state to an individual, or later transfers from individual to individual in any state are found in their respective state or county land offices and are not part of the BLM-GLO Land Patent Search. Those types of land transactions can usually be researched in the land and property records at county courthouses or state archives.

Who Is in the Land Patent Search

The BLM-GLO Land Patent Search index only lists people who were actually granted a federal land patent. All military bounty land, grants, cash, pre-emption, and credit entry patents should be indexed. Among homesteaders only about 40 percent of initial applicants finished the process and received a legal title (patent) to their homestead. Among timberland applicants only about 25 percent received their patent.

Homesteaders who never obtained a patent because they did not finish are NOT in the Land Patent Search, but they ARE in the application papers. It is possible to get copies of unfinished applications. However, to see such application papers you must figure out another way to obtain the legal description of the land they started to homestead.

Using the Land Patent Search

Open the Land Patent Search on the Internet at General Land Office Patent Search. You may be asked to enter your zip code. Select the State where the land is located or select -- Any State -- Enter the last name of the person receiving the Land Patent. More advanced users can also enter the Land Description and other Miscellaneous information. Then click the Search Patents button at the bottom.

If the results list is too long redo the search with one or more of the following

a particular state

a particular state and county

a first name

a first name and middle name

If the results list is too short redo the search with one or more of the following

delete a name

change a particular state to -- Any State --

change a particular county to --Any County --

delete other details. The fewer the search parameters, the larger the results will be.

use wildcard symbols in the names: % = multiple characters; _ = a single character.

The Family History Library and the Eastern States Office have an incomplete card file that indexes pre-1908 patents issued in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, Ohio, and Wisconsin. These are on 160 microfilms.

The pre-1908 land patents are also being indexed and placed on compact discs for computers. The Family History Library and other repositories have copies for Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. They are found in the Place Search of the Family History Library Catalog under [STATE] - LAND AND PROPERTY.

Indexes for the same states along with Missouri are available on the Internet. For an information packet, telephone the Bureau of Land Management at 703-440-1564.